1999 California Cabernet Retrospective Notes

A blind tasting of 44 wines finds many have aged well in their first decade

The 1999 California Cabernet vintage was a great success when it was realeased, delivering many of that decade's best wines. Now 10 years old, the top Cabernets of that harvest have, for the most part, aged the way wine lovers who cellared them hoped they would; time has worked to their advantage.

The wines reflected the benefits of the year's long, moderate growing season and small crop, which allowed vintners to monitor the grapes and pick at ideal ripeness. Hot weather gives Cabernet its ripe flavors. But it is the cooler years that allow the grapes to hang on the vine longer and ripen evenly, and often it's the cooler years that age the best.